Emmanuel Liyong Sama

Promotion of the Sustainable Use of Indigenous Wildlife Resources as Medicinal Wildlife, in Cameroon’s North-West Region

Liyong Emmanuel Sama (Coordinator) active with a tradipractitioner.

Tradipractitioner with chimps & eagle bones.

Team member administering questionnaire.

Team member with guide to a tradipractitioner.

Town/RegionCountryCategoriesDate
Bamenda, North-West RegionCameroonAfrica, Education, People8 Feb 2010

Motivation:

What motivated this case study was my realization that some medicine is derived from the wildlife of the mainly grassland North West Region of Cameroon, yet the unsustainable way the indigenous wildlife resources are used and traded is leading to the depletion and eventual extinction of some of them in the area.

Secondly, much has been talked, done and written on Medicinal Plants, but that is the contrary for Medicinal Wildlife, at least in Cameroon. Unlike medicinal plants, which are harvested as parts of trees and plants that are generally left intact, an animal is always killed for medicinal wildlife.

Long Term Goal:

The study aims, in the long-term, to achieve the sustainable use of Medicinal Wildlife after highlighting its importance in wildlife conservation in general and by seeking alternatives to those species highly killed for medicine or endangered.

From the study we will pick and propose some identified species for focussed protection by law, search alternatives especially for endangered species of medicinal wildlife, consider the ex-situ conservation of some, as well as seek funding to help some local hunters to obtain hunting licenses – as example in a legal practice which is quite rare here.

The result will be presented/circulated to government, conservation organisations and community based groups, who are expected to take it as a relay baton and impetus for more work in that line.

Planned Activities, Methodology and Timescale:

We will travel and collect data from 60 tradi-practitioners, on the use and means of acquisition of medicinal wildlife in the study area, using: Questionnaires, One-on-one interviews and Focus Group Discussions. We will rank identified species in order of medicinal importance, showing perceived levels of abundance or rarity; this to identify species which are very important as medicinal wildlife but low in the protection status.

We will link the findings through radio talk programs, distribution of flyers and posters, sketches, meetings and interactive discussions, for the awareness campaigns.

With the results we will confer with conservation stakeholders on possible alternatives and alternative actions. Recommendations will be proposed to the government and international conservation organisations, for possible policy change to better protect and sustain medicinal wildlife.

For further information contact esama_1@yahoo.co.uk

Project Update: April 2010

In early February 2010 I contacted the relevant government services, lobbied and secured two important endorsement letters for the project from: (1) Regional Delegate of Forestry and Wildlife (copied to Regional Governor) affirming that the study has no law enforcement aim; and (2) from the Regional Delegate of Public Health asking all tradipractitioners of NWR to collaborate with us.

In March 2010 we visited and distributed questionnaires to 19 tradipractitioners in the various localities. To each respondent we give our prepared “message on sustainable medicinal wildlife” and photocopies of the two Regional Delegates’ letters, for better introduction. So far, 21 medicinal wildlife species have been identified, with 27 medicinal usages.

Project Update: June 2010

From April – June 2010 we continued the case study with field trips and administered questionnaires to traditional practitioners for the identification of medicinal wildlife species. We’ve so far got information from 48 traditional practitioners contacted and identified 49 medicinal species, for 57 medicinal usages.

May 2010
a) Wrote information letters to the seven Divisional authorities (Delegates) in charge of wildlife management, attaching copies of the “Message On Sustainable Medicinal Wildlife” and solicited that they propagate the message in their various units.
b) Lectured and distributed the “Sustainable Medicinal Wildlife” flyers to a gathering of fellow forestry/wildlife management staff after Military March-Past on National Day (20th May 2010).
c) We again passed the “Message On Sustainable Medicinal Wildlife” on CNTV news-bar for 40 hours, besides distributing them publicly as flyers.

June 2010
a) Lectured and distributed the “Sustainable Medicinal Wildlife” flyers to members of the Regional Union of North-West Tradipractitioners on June 18 2010.


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